I also planned to write this post – obviously – before I left. This post summarizes everything that, as a result of careful planning:
- I did
- it turned out completely differently
- was not in the plans at all.
It’s a bit like a list. A future digital nomad might like this format.
License and vaccinations
I have described these events in detail in my previous articles “Missing post: International driving license” and “Missing post: The vaccines.” Both of these are built around the idea of “trying it safe.”
Insurance
In my posts “Who won the insurance competition?” and “Insurance survival package for digital nomads,” I described the search method and the steps for choosing an insurance company. So, I didn’t really have much to do other than conclude an agreement with the given company based on the preliminary information.
At the request of a friend, I visited a lady at a travel agency, with the intention of helping her solve her IT problem. You know, my friend’s friend is also my friend. I went to the office, even though I had already told my friend about the problem and that it was not my desk. Even though it was an IT problem.
Here I need to make a short digression, which has been an element of my professional credo that has been recurring for many years. It’s a strange duality of life that in the case of certain professions, almost everyone can draw clear boundaries around specialized areas. For example, people rarely go to their family doctor or cardiologist with a toothache. Or, say, you don’t order stew with noodles at McDonald’s. Well, there are people who make this joke, and a more experienced bartender will probably smile at it and say to himself that this was the twentieth guy today who found this funny.
So – I’ll tell you – there are areas of IT that I have no idea about. If I want to be really precise, I have to say that there are many times more areas of IT that I don’t understand or have never heard of than those that I do.
Nevertheless, conversations such as:
- Could you set this or that for me?
- I’m not familiar with it, it’s not my area.
- Well, you’re so clever, I’m sure you can do it.
Or:
- What kind of laptop should I buy, what do you recommend?
- I’m not good at it, unfortunately I can’t help you. I always ask one of my friends what to buy.
- You’re an IT guy, how come you don’t know anything about laptops?
- Let me ask you something? Do you drive a car?
- Yes.
- And can you fix its engine if it breaks down?
- No!
- Now, do you understand?
This long meditation is interesting from an insurance perspective because I went to a place for my friend’s sake, where I knew I wouldn’t know what to do, and the only thing I could do to help was to recommend someone instead of me. That’s something…
I even got mine there. The lady’s habit was, let’s say, quite dominant. We talked, and after a few topics I was a little afraid of whether there was anything I did right about the trip. Here are some examples of the exchange of thoughts:
- I’m moving to Thailand, I already have my plane ticket.
- Did you buy it from us? Why not?
- I was on a cruise?
- Why didn’t you pay for it from us? How much did you buy the ticket? That’s a lot…
- Do you have insurance yet?
- I haven’t taken it out yet, but I’ve already chosen it.
- What company?
- American. Made specifically for digital nomads.
- It won’t be good! It won’t pay!
Finally, we have reached the point. I can say, the solution. I did not refuse the lady to even start the conversation, because I had already made up my mind. I was also curious about what she could offer. I wrote in the posts that I was looking for Hungarian insurance, but I could not find it.
The lady told me a lot about the insurance structure, and also gave me offline information material. I finally reviewed these the day before departure. It is about the Atlasz Privileg annual pass insurance. I wanted to put a link here so that you would not have to search for it. But, as insurance and financial companies make sure that they publish the data in accordance with the legal obligation, but that it is not easy to find – I did not find a direct link in the first few search results, so I gave up.
This insurance offers a certain amount of money for every problem and costs a third of the SafetyWing I chose. This was a convincing enough argument to change my plan on my last day and take out this insurance.
I understood then why I had to go to the travel agency. The then unclear intention revealed itself by the end of the day…
Visa
About two weeks before departure, I applied for a Thai visa. Everything was prepared for this. Compared to the possibilities.
At that time, I had been waiting for a response to an email from the embassy for a few weeks. It still hasn’t arrived. So, before submitting the application, I called the lady at the embassy, with whom I had already had a brief correspondence. On the third call, I was finally able to speak to her, but somehow I felt that she was not helpful, as if I had bothered her.
I had two questions that I ultimately did not receive an answer to, and the lady ended the conversation by saying that if I had written her an email, it would definitely tell me where to apply for the visa. It wasn’t there. I had a hard time finding the page and filling it out.
This is not an easy feat. Another thing is that when asked how you are coming, you choose to fly and then give the flight number. But at the same time, they ask when I am leaving and which plane. Fuck. Well, how could I know this three months in advance?
For the accommodation – which I hadn’t even booked yet – I specified that it was Airbnb. I didn’t know more about it at the time. After that, it was difficult to fill in the exact address field and the host’s Thai phone number.
Then there was the problem that the destination area didn’t have Koh Samui. I was going there, but it wasn’t possible to select it from the list.
I had to bother ChatGPT quite a bit before I found out that the administratively the place where I would be living looked like this:
- Country: Thailand
- Province: Surat Thani
- District: Ko Samui (Amphoe Ko Samui)
Now hold on tight, because after you select Surat Thani Province, the next option you’ll see is Ko Samui District, you’ll also need to select the sub-district:
Koh Samui’s 7 sub-districts (tambon):
- Ang Thong (อางทอง) – This is where Nathon, the island’s administrative center and main ferry port is located.
- Lipa Noi (ลิพานนี) – West coast, quiet beaches, mainly locals and long-term residents.
- Taling Ngam (ติงกานทอง) – Southwestern part, jungle, mountainous, less developed – there are also luxury villas here.
- Na Mueang (หนังมือง) – Central-southern area, here you can find the famous Na Muang waterfall, animal parks.
- Maret (มะร์็ต) – Here you can find Lamai Beach, the second largest resort area after Chaweng.
- Bo Phut (บุบผุด) Large sub-district, includes:
- Chaweng (most popular tourist center)
- Fisherman’s Village
- Bangrak (Big Buddha)
- Mae Nam (มี่มี่มี) – North coast, long beach, family-friendly, quieter zone.
If you ask me where I live now, I can tell you that
In the large sub-district of Bo Phut, Ko Samui district, Surat Thani province, Thailand, near Fisherman’s Village.
After filling out my visa application, which I didn’t think was very complicated, I waited. I’ve been waiting for an answer ever since. Two weeks later, my application wasn’t even there on the website.
Well, I had to fill out this form at the airport, as mentioned in the post “My first long flight”. Luckily, I had an official help me, because I would have bled to death there with the public space. Especially since I didn’t have internet at the time. My statement that I didn’t have an outbound flight ticket also made him uneasy. When I said I’ll go and ask, I started to get a little nervous that I would be kicked out of the country before I even got in. We cut the Gordian knot by entering the flight number of the incoming flight in the appropriate field, based on his advice.
Now I’m here and I don’t have a visa. I don’t think this will bother anyone for three months. Especially not me. Then I’ll go to another country, and I’ll be more careful with the visa issue there. I know from ChatGPT what kind of punishment I can expect in terms of the visa issue, so I’m curious to see what happens to me when I leave here. I’m hoping that this won’t be my first prison experience.
Cash
I didn’t bring any Thai baht with me. I don’t think I’ll change any more. A bank card is fine until the airport. I’ll exchange the cash in the country.
I came here with a few dollars that my younger brother gave me. I’ll keep this habit. Dollars are probably good everywhere for a few small things. Taxi, a meal, etc.
Here I solve the cash issue by transferring dollars from my Hungarian forint account to my Wise account and using this card to withdraw Thai money from the ATM. As an interesting idea, I’m going to try withdrawing cash from my Hungarian card. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Internet
Because of the first unpleasant experiences, I say that I will not do this again, as I did now. It is not good to roam without internet.
I found out on board the Nomad Cruise that my phone was already eSIM capable, it cannot operate an eSIM and a physical SIM at the same time. The free eSIM solution I received on the ship also did not work.
When I got here, I bought a small package for a dollar, but it did not work either. With this problem, things became worrying, because it became questionable whether my phone would be able to serve me in the future.
Fortunately, I found a solution. In the case of eSIM, you also have to (!) set the roaming option, otherwise it will never work. And as a second piece of luck, I found an eSIM provider whose packages are very well priced and their service covers almost all countries. I recommend the Jetpac International Travel eSIM provider.
Medicines
During my last visit to the vaccination center, I received my so-called travel pharmacy list. Based on these, I bought a few medicines on my last day. I know there is a pharmacy here too, and as I already wrote, I was in one. The doctor’s argument was that by the time I get to know the active ingredients and names here, I might have a problem.
I don’t regret this preparation, even though AI could certainly help effectively. If something were to happen, I wouldn’t have to go to the pharmacy.
The things I’m taking
Back in mid-January, I created an Excel spreadsheet called “What I’m taking with me.” Well, I didn’t open it when I started packing. I think the planning was in vain, because by the time I got to the point where I started packing in the last few hours, I already had exactly what I was taking with me in my head. I wrote about this in my post “I set off and arrived.”
Car sales
I still don’t have a solution to this question. Because no one wanted to buy my car. I went to a car dealer about a month before departure. He was honest with me, and for that I am grateful to him. He told me to sell it online, not to bring it to them, they sell everything there too.
He also said that summer is disastrous for car sales. The market starts after August 20, and the grass doesn’t grow until then. On his advice, I removed the ad from all pages. I wanted to upload it before departure, but it didn’t fit in the last few days.
However, we did the paperwork on the last evening with my younger brother. I signed quite a few contracts, plus a power of attorney so that he could act on my behalf.
I made the new ad here, in Koh Samui, after my brother once again transformed the vehicle into a beautiful new car. Thank you, once again!
Making a car ad to a high standard is quite a time-consuming process. I ran into him twice before we got to the point where I posted the ad and paid for the appropriate advertising package. Then 15 minutes later I received a message from the system that I had been deleted from the system because I had violated the rules. They pointed out that an advertiser can only have one free ad at a time. I asked them what the problem was then, since my ad is not free and I am not selling multiple cars. Hats off to the customer service, because they responded very quickly. We clarified that the problem was that I had given my brother’s phone number as contact information. And he happened to be selling one of his cars at the time. The kind help then solved the problem: I gave another phone number and they quickly restored the ad.
Since then, there have been two interested parties, in the usual Marketplace format. I show the dialogues:
- Kilometer????
- 280503
There are a lot of answers that come to mind, starting with the fact that the kilometer is an SI unit of measurement (no, I didn’t make it up), or that it’s in the description, read it.
The other dialogue was similarly brief, but a bit more civilized:
- Hi. Km?
- Good morning! 280503 km
Many of the literary paraphernalia are missing, but for years I have been smiling at these simple forms.
Let me quote here the short dialogues of two of my sales for the sake of nostalgia.
We sold a family house. This short was born:
- How is the condition of the product?
- Very good.
In another case, the creature inquired about a phone number (marked as available). The number spoken in the conversation was approximately half the selling price.
- Do you still have this?
- Yes.
- 40,000?
- No.
Despite previous adventures, I am excitedly awaiting the honorable appearance of the car’s next owner.
Farewell party
I didn’t plan this. My younger brother did.
The day before last, we had beer and made ourselves into corpses with a very delicious nail stew in cauldron.
Shortly before that, I made deer stew with two friends. One of my friends was my boss at my last job and the other friend was my colleague. The pot roast was made memorable by a portable guitar amplifier and some strumming, along with delicious whiskeys and good company.
In the last few days, a friend of mine slept over at my place so that we could spend one of our last evenings together and, as is our custom, talk a lot about the world.
During the last few days, my phone rang. Many of you wished me luck, success, and health. Some even jumped over on the last day to hug me and talk for half an hour.
My daughters and I arrived home from our joint vacation as a trio two days before I left. It was no coincidence that it turned out this way. In fact, the two of them set the date for my departure. When we talked about our joint vacation, it quickly turned out that they would only be able to go in August. If we had been able to go on vacation in June, I would have been living in Thailand for almost three months now.
I am proud of my daughters for many things. All I can say for this post is that it feels great that after so many trips together, they both organized a European trip for themselves for the first time this year, from flights, hotels, programs, which the two of them did every step of the way with their friends. Meanwhile, I remembered that I was wrong: this was not my older daughter’s first year of independent travel.
We also said goodbye to my parents with a few sentences, as we talked a lot about what this trip means. Obviously, there were difficult moments. But I am here, I am alive and we know about each other.
Back in May, I wrote in my post “The art of saying goodbye” that I believe there is no need to say goodbye to anyone.
Nevertheless, I am very grateful that my passing was commemorated in this way.
Soma as Aragorn
Before the trip, I created the Soma as Aragorn Messenger group. It’s a bold undertaking, because it brought together friends and family members with different habits. The purpose of the group is to be able to give a sign of life about myself in a relaxed setting. Since I’m lazy in this area, I thought this was the forum where I could post everything that was interesting and exciting. Or deep and quiet. Or whatever. And if I post something here, I don’t have to send anything to other places. The group seems like a good idea anyway. I’m grateful to you for being here with me!
The name of the group was born based on the following.
First of all, on August 2nd, I uploaded a video from years ago to my Youtube channel so that I could show it to someone. I don’t even understand why I didn’t upload it earlier.
This emblematic Hungarian rock song also contains some references to my life in its lyrics. Fortunately, the similarity is not nearly 100 percent.
I am not afraid as long as I live
Distances await
Cities, highway dust!
In sunlight, in harsh winter
Every day, every night
I wander, I never stop!
When I uploaded it, I recognized the similarity of a few lines to my own fate.
But who was Aragorn? He is one of the most important figures in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the heir of Isildur and the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. For a long time, he was known by his pseudonym, the Wanderer, because he secretly traveled the paths of Middle-earth, was always on the road, and his task remained to protect the peoples of the world. The hobbits first encountered him as a mysterious stranger who appeared in the drinking holes and forests, but later it turned out that he was their wise and brave leader. Aragorn played a key role in the War of the Ring, where he proved his courage and the virtues worthy of his heritage. After the war, he was crowned king, and his rule brought a new era for Gondor and Arnor.
Even before the Lord of the Rings movies exploded, in 1999, I registered the email address aragorn@ with one of the free email providers that still operates today. If I’m feeling very sentimental, I can see in this registration that, well, I knew back then that I would be a wanderer. Of course, this wouldn’t be true, but let me imagine this version as an example of long-term “Synchronicity, coincidences, flow“.
I certainly won’t be a king on my journey. But I can still be brave. This week, two of my friends told me that they were extremely proud of me, one of them also added that it was because not many people do what I started. If I have the ability, I will show the way…